


the dream team

by mcmeekin



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Operation Overdrive
Genre: AU, Gen, based around the once a ranger teamup in operation overdrive, because i can do what i want and you can't stop me, biker!AU, but with like gangs instead of power rangers u feel, i'm definitely implying that everyone is dating everyone
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-06
Updated: 2016-09-02
Packaged: 2018-03-10 17:02:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3297800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcmeekin/pseuds/mcmeekin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before anything else, the rangers are a family. Before they are a team, a threat, an alliance, a gang, they are a family. Once and always.</p><p>(or, that AU where the rangers are an alliance of biker gangs)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. the intro

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [It's Ridin' Time](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1119057) by [SailorSol](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorSol/pseuds/SailorSol). 



Angel Grove is either a city of contradictions or a city of liars.

It has one of the highest organized crime rates in all of America, yet its residents will tell you that they’ve never lived in a safer place. If you ask, the people will claim that they have no idea how many gangs roam the streets, but you’ll only ever hear them talk about the rangers. Well, the rangers and anyone who dares to defy them. The residents of Angel Grove will tell you that they have no idea how the rangers divide up their territory, but they refer to areas of town by turf designations rather than cardinal directions. They’ll swear up and down that the police houses rangers because no ranger has ever been arrested, but none are ever found when the departments are searched.

The rangers are contradictions as well. You may hear the citizens of Angel Grove call them vigilantes in hushed tones around a dinner table. They would laugh at that designation, laugh while they dig a knife into a man’s back, laugh while they snap a woman’s neck without hesitation. They’re not heroes. They just want to protect their own, their team, their _family_.

The rumors say that it started back in the days when Rita Repulsa and her crew ruled the streets with an iron fist, when her prostitution ring recruited half the girls out of high school and a good many still in it. People say that a man rose up against her ( _Zordon,_ they will whisper reverently at this point), a man who recruited the first five rangers out of high school (some claim they were as young as sophomores; others say that’s bullshit). They were effective, those first five rangers, effective enough to gain the attention of Rita’s boss, Lord Zedd. He came down to Angel Grove with his gang to sort out the problem himself. Others have come since them, but they all learn the same lesson as Rita and Zedd about taking on the rangers: no one succeeds for very long.

Some residents complain, saying that without the rangers, there would be no rival gangs to darken the streets, to threaten the safety of the city. Others say that the rival gangs would come anyway and that it’s a good thing that the rangers are there to mediate. No matter the opinion of the people, they can all agree on one point: the rangers are dangerous to anyone who threatens their way of life, to anyone who lays a finger on one of their own, to anyone who dares challenge their indisputable right to govern Angel Grove.

Approach with caution.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I read SailorSol's biker gang fic like a year ago and was immediately struck by 'oh my god I need literally a million more words of this right now like /right now/'.  
> Then this little idea wormed its way into my head and has been growing there for a year and basically it turned into this monster universe with every single team instead of just like Zordon Era and Dino Thunder. And there's hierarchies and the tattoos mean things and there's this whole system of ranger allies and man oh man I'm so excited.  
> So yeah this is going in a completely different direction from Sailor's story, so when I say 'inspired by', I really mean 'stole the idea of the rangers as a gang from', and that's where the similarities (probably) end.  
> Also read 'It's Ridin' Time'. Do it. /Love yourself./


	2. the intel and the spy

It’s a seedy bar even by her standards (which are, admittedly, not that high), but it’s an Alliance bar, a safe bar, and it offers her a private back room to have this meeting. She fiddles with her watch nervously, growing more panicky by the moment. Zedd will notice she’s gone, the ranger won’t show, the ranger won’t help—she glances at the time, trying to calm herself down. The second hand hits the twelve, striking midnight. The door to her private room groans open, and Rita whirls around to see a blond girl dressed in black slip through. She recoils.

“What the hell are you doing here?” she demands in a whisper.

A smile stretches across the girl’s face, a smile that holds no warmth, an all-too-familiar smile that makes Rita flashback to when the girl wore a different leather outfit and dyed her hair, a smile she would smile while strangling someone. “Not happy to see me Rita? Original Pink says you wanted a meeting.” Her voice is low and familiar, almost sensual.

“Yes, with _her_ , not your traitorous little ass,” Rita hisses.

The girl’s eyes narrow a fraction. “If you think that Original Pink has time to waste talking to washed up scum like you, you’re sadly mistaken. She’s only got time for you if you wanna relinquish some turf to us.”

Rita flashes the girl an annoyed look. She knows damn well that Rita doesn’t have shit; it all belongs to the Alliance now. “I’ve got information. Isn't that Pink's thing?”

The girls's eyebrows go up. “Territory division is Original Pink's 'thing'. Besides, I highly doubt that you have information that you’d willingly tell your rivals that you think we don’t already know.”

“It’s about my son,” she says, ignoring the thinly veiled insult.

“The brat you sent upstate to boarding school.” It’s a statement, not a question. “What happened? His trust fund run out?”

“He’s been finding ways of making money,” Rita nearly growls. “Drugs, robbery, ransom: you name it, he’s into it. He’s been gathering this…group. It’s getting out of hand.”

“And why do I care?” the girl asks, sitting down comfortably in one of the lounge chairs, looking for all the world like she’s still the Alliance’s golden child. Rita stays standing. The girl flicks a stray piece of hair out of her face. The motion gives Rita a glance of the tattoo on her right forearm, the tattoo that only slightly varies from Rita’s own, the tattoo marking her as a member of the Alliance.

“He’s coming home in two days,” Rita says.

She sees something change in the girl’s eyes. “Well, that _is_ interesting.” She inspects her nails daintily. “Unfortunately, I still don’t care unless he’s planning on raiding a ranger hangout or dealing meth outside my house.”

Rita drops her voice even lower. “Last time I spoke with him, he talked about joining up with another gang, of uniting the three rivals in your territory, your Overdrive group’s claim.”

She raises one eyebrow, her smile controlled and amused. “Overdrive’s rivals? There’s no way.”

“Thrax can be very…persuasive when he wants to be.”

The girl checks her watch. “Well, thanks for the warning.” She stands, smirking. “I’ll tell Original Pink that you miss her. Give my regards to your…husband.” She turns to leave.

The knife Rita throws sticks solidly in the door right where the girl’s head had been a moment before. The girl clucks disapprovingly and pulls it free before turning to smile the same smile as when she first arrived. “It’s not very nice to try to kill people while their backs are turned, you know.”

“You’re in way over your head, Princess,” Rita growls at her. “The Alliance still wants you dead, and you just show up in one of their bars?”

The girl keeps smiling. “Thanks for the knife,” she says at last, tucking it into her belt as she leaves.

~~~

The alleyway is just as seedy as the bar, but Karone doesn’t notice. As she steps out of the back entrance, a face drops down in front of hers, causing her to take a startled step back.

“Hey Princess,” Maya says from where she hangs upside down on the fire escape.

Karone grins. “Hey Jungle Girl. Find any vines to swing from up there?”

Maya rolls her eyes and promptly flips down off the escape, landing perfectly before falling into step beside Karone as she walks briskly away from the bar. “So, kill anyone?” Maya sounds a little too excited about this prospect. Karone holds back her smile as she shakes her head. “Oh.” Disappointment. “Well, did you at least piss Rita off?”

This time Karone can’t hold back her self-satisfied smirk. “If I had been perfectly polite in there, how could I have gotten you a new knife?” She punctuates these last words by pulling Rita’s knife out of her belt and handing it to her companion. Maya gasps, stopping in her tracks at the mouth of the alley to examine the knife reverently.

“This is the single greatest present I have ever received ever.”

Karone laughs. “Including the fancy gun Leo got you for Christmas?”

Maya shoots her a look before gleefully racing ahead to where their bikes are parked.

Karone follows at a slower pace, pulling out her phone to text Original Pink.

“You coming tonight? Kendrix is making that stew you like,” Maya calls back to her.

Karone shrugs, concentrating on her text. “Depends on my orders. Original Pink might have another job for me.”

Maya nods, understanding. “Well, if you do decide to come, bring your brother’s hot teammate.”

“Which one?” Karone jokes as she joins Maya, putting her phone away.

Maya smiles and kisses Karone on the cheek. “Exactly.”

~~~

She looks forward to nights like this, when she’s home alone and can drink tea and read by herself as late as she wants. It’s soothing, having nothing to do. Well, nothing to do but wait.

Her phone buzzes as it receives a new text message. As expected, it’s from Karone.

_Bad news. You at home?_

She replies with a grin. _That barely took you twenty minutes. Maybe I should send you to all my meetings. Balcony’s open when you’re ready._

It doesn’t even take ten minutes for the expected _thump_ on her porch. She gestures for her guest to come in without looking up from her book. The glass door slides open and closed.

Kimberly looks up and grins. “Hey Karone. Got any juicy gossip for me?” she asks, finally putting a bookmark in her book and setting it down on the kitchen island.

“Well, I heard that Mystic Force’s Red and Blue are fucking, but other than that it’s been a dull week,” Karone says with a smirk as she comes to lean against the counter across from Kim. She reaches out to pluck a candy from of the bowl in the middle of the island and eat it.

Kim raises an eyebrow. “Mystic Red’s back in town? I don’t think he’s checked in yet.”

Karone rolls her eyes. “Give the kid a break; he had a rough year.” It’s Kim’s turn to smirk as she reaches for a candy.

“So, how was dear old Rita?”

“Same as always: bitchy, bitter, whiney. But also oddly helpful.”

Kimberly leans forward. “What’d you learn?”

“Rita says Thrax’s coming back in town in two days,” Karone says.

Kimberly frowns. “Thrax? Like, blew-up-half-the-warehouse-district-for-shits-and-giggles-last-time-he-was-in-town Thrax?”

Karone grimaces. “That’s the one. Rita says he plans on uniting Overdrive’s challengers, and she seems to be under the impression that he can do it.”

Kim raises her eyebrows. “And what do you think?”

“I think that Dark Spectre himself couldn’t unite Overdrive’s challengers.”

Kimberly tilts her head to the side. “But…”

Karone sighs, putting down the candy she had been contemplating eating. “But Rita was scared shitless when I saw her. She’s scared enough of what her son can do to defy Lord Zedd and call on her enemies for help. I think we should take her seriously.”

Kimberly nods thoughtfully. “You’re right.” She sighs. “I’ll call a meeting. We’ll think of something.”

Karone nods. “Need me to do anything else?”

Kim seems to come out of her thoughts. She smiles. “No. Go home and...do whatever you do in Lost Galaxy world.”

Karone laughs. “You make it sound like we live on another planet. Sure you don’t need me?”

“Not tonight, Princess. Not tonight.”


	3. the meeting and the secret

Ernie’s Juice Bar is something of a local legend among the youth of Angel Grove. Many young people flock there for its reputation of good service and good food; just as many make a habit of avoiding it for its reputation of serving rangers. The little lightning bolt sticker in the corner of the window is an indicator of that.

There’s an unspoken rule about the back rooms of Ernie’s: they belong to the Original Five. No one goes in there without an invitation or expressed permission. _Ernie_ doesn’t even go back there. But if a ranger does secure an invitation, it’s a pretty sweet set up. There are two rooms and a basement that can only be accessed through the rooms (and is therefore Original Five territory). The main room is set up like a lounge area: two couches line the two of the three walls to the left, creating an L-shape. To the right, a table and chairs are set up like a dining area. A TV is mounted directly across from the door. Two other doors provide exits. One sits on the wall behind the dining area and leads to the basement. The other is to the far left next to the couches. It leads to the second room, which is smaller, including only one couch and a TV.

The basement has all the latest tech, from computers and tablets to medical equipment and weapon storage. One end of the room is dedicated to the computers that have already hacked (nearly) every security camera in the city and can pull up any feed in a matter of seconds. There are two entrances; one comes down from the back room while the other comes from the hallway that leads to the back room, for regular rangers to use when invited. Both are locked with a code. The rangers call it the Command Center, a name that started out as a joke then got sort of out of hand.

These are the rooms where the Original Five run essentially everything. There’s a delicate hierarchy, but they sit firmly at the top. Only one person can override an Original Five command, and he’s dead. The Original Five creates and manages teams, divides and settles territory, and basically handles anything and everything that needs to be handled.

They have their meetings in the main room, and at this point they basically have a seating chart. Jason sits at the table across from Billy, who usually has a tablet that streams information from it to the TV. Trini leans in the far left corner. Zack lays sprawled out on the couch facing the TV. Kimberly perches on the corner of the table.

Except today Kimberly has the tablet and is directing information to the screen. A map of a section of Angel Grove pops up.

“Quick recap: Operation Overdrive,” she begins.

“Big money, big sponsor, big guns, big rivals, little territory,” Zack lists off almost automatically. His arm is draped over his eyes, but Kim knows better than to think that he’s not paying attention.

Ignoring him, she continues. “As you know, they were formed at the request of Andrew Hartford, a, like, kajillionaire who’s obsessed with locating and securing these super rare jewels—”

“The jewels of the Corona Aurora,” Trini cuts in, sounding almost bored.

“—who not very nice people also happen to be very interested in. Hartford provides funding for all their tech and toys, and that money is basically the only reason they’ve been able to survive a four front war all this time. That, and the disorganization of their rivals. Now, we’ve discussed the option of aiding Overdrive—”

“But we decided that they were doing a bang up job on their own and would only need serious assistance if their four rivals were to unite,” Jason finishes for Kimberly.

“Which our old friend Rita tells me is suddenly very possible,” Kimberly finishes, swiping a new picture onto the screen. The picture appears to be from a yearbook and shows a young man. “I’m sure you all remember Thrax.”

The reaction is immediate and nearly comical. Trini pushes herself off the back wall to stand up straight. Zack nearly bolts upright on the couch. Jason stiffens, and Billy looks at her sharply. “Rita says he’s coming back in town. And that his plan is to unite Overdrive’s rivals,” Kim continues.

“There’s no way,” Zack says immediately.

“Which is what I said,” Kimberly agrees. “But Rita went to the trouble of telling me that he’s coming back in town; she obviously thinks he could actually be capable of this. I think we’d be morons to not at least have a plan.”

“What about Team-Up Policy?” Trini asks.

Kimberly shakes her head. “Team-Up Policy would only apply if Thrax was Mystic Force’s old rival. Plus, you never know if Mystic Red’s going to be in town or not.”

“Also all of Overdrive’s rivals? At the same time?” Billy points out. “I don’t envy who we give this job to.”

“What if we formed a team specifically designed to take Thrax down?” Jason suggests. “Any unity the rivals could theoretically form while under Thrax would vanish if he were dead.”

“A dream team,” Kimberly says with a small smile. “I like it. Well, they’d have to be led by someone with experience with Rita and Zedd’s kid.”

“Which could be anyone before Ninja Storm,” Billy points out. “Everyone was involved in the warehouse district incident.”

“Any Reds hate Thrax enough to pull this off?” Zack asks Jason.

“I think we should let your Second lead,” Jason replies.

There's a brief silence before Zack asks, “Adam? Lead the team against Thrax?”

Jason shrugs. “It’s past time that we let him lead something. He’s a natural.”

“I don’t think—” Zack begins, but Trini cuts across him.

“I agree with Jason. Adam is a good leader and someone we can trust to report back to us and get the job done. Plus he was a Black, and we’re trying to kill Thrax, aren’t we?”

She directs this last question at Zack who still looks a little uncomfortable. He finally shrugs, settling back into the couch. “Fine. Let him lead. But if we’re putting old school at the helm, we’d need some fresh blood to mix it up.”

“What about SPD?” Kimberly asks. “They’ve been sitting around for a while; time to make them work. What’s that kid’s name, the Green?”

“Cadet Carson,” Billy says having taken the tablet from Kim. He starts pulling up files, compiling information on Thrax, and putting together the new team.

“Whatever; he’s a good fighter.”

“Speaking of Greens, I’d suggest Mystic Force’s. He can be... surprisingly perceptive,” Jason says. Billy adds him to the team.

Trini glances at the screen. “We’ve gotta get some ‘shoot first; ask questions later’ kids up here. These three would talk their way out of any situation if given the chance. What about the ninja's girl, the blue?”

Billy’s eyebrows go up. “You really wanna involve the ninjas in this?”

“We’re adding people who will kill without mercy, and you don’t immediately think of them?” Trini counters.

“We’re also trying to make up a team who will follow the lead of someone who isn’t their Red, and the ninjas are notoriously protective of their own. She’ll probably come willingly enough, but her team won’t be happy that we’re taking her,” Billy argues. “It could become a problem.”

“So we appease them,” Jason says with a shrug. “Give that disputed turf to them, Kim. That’ll at least take some of the fight out.”

“What if we added Little Ptero?” Kimberly suggests. “She and Ninja Blue are friends, and she's also kind of... scary ruthless?”

“Green’s gonna be pissed if we take one of his kids,” Jason points out.

Kimberly rolls her eyes. “He’ll get over it.”

“And that's five," Trini says, glancing over the team again. “Looks good to me. We should tell our little Frog Prince first, make sure he agrees.”

“I’ll talk to him,” Zack says, pulling out his phone.

Trini makes eye contact with Kim. “You’ve got the ninjas?” Kim nods. “Then I’ve got everyone else.”

~~~

Ernie’s isn’t enormously busy, but that’s to be expected considering how early it is. There’s a couple of people at the bar, a cluster around the pool table in the far corner, and a couple of people throwing knives at the dart board near the counter, but other than that, the place seems pretty empty.

A pretty blond waitress walks by with a tray of food but pauses upon seeing him standing in the doorway. “Adam,” she greets, looking a little confused. “It’s a bit early to see you here. Aisha hasn’t even dropped by, and you know how early she gets going.”

He smiles at her. “Business call. Zack?”

“Back booth,” she says, jerking her head in the direction of the corner. “Yell at me if you need anything.”

“Thanks, Emily.” Adam makes his way to the back table, catching Zack’s eye as he approaches. He sits down opposite the other man. “It’s too early for a drink.”

Zack glances down at the glass in his hand. “It’s ginger ale. Helps with the headache.” He takes a sip before continuing. “I’m going to tell you something, and you’re not going to like it.”

Adam raises an eyebrow. “Are you firing me?” he jokes.

Zack grimaces. “Worse. I’m hiring you for a job that I wish I didn’t have to ask you to do.” He sighs and drinks again before leaning back. He’s quiet for a long time. “The Original Five we… We keep too many secrets from each other, I think. We excuse each other too much. We can’t blame Kim because her job is secrets, unofficially. Trini couldn’t… _solve_ problems the way she does without secrets. Billy, well, there’s no way for him to _not_ keep secrets. He couldn’t possibly tell us every piece of information he comes across, now could he? Jason’s the leader; he has a right to keep secrets. And me… An assassin has gotta have a few skeletons in his closet. Too many excuses.” Zack’s drink is empty now, and he puts it down on the table before leaning forward to address Adam quietly. “Kim says Thrax is coming back.”

Adam involuntarily stiffens at the name, memories bubbling back up without invitation, clouding his vision, filling his senses.

_Blood soaking through the floorboards and dripping down on the room below._

_Smoke filling a room faster than it should, choking him._

_A distant laugh punctuated by screams that seem much closer._

_Seeing the flames engulf the building but not really comprehending what they mean, not fully, not until it was almost too late._

“And if Kim says it, it’s true,” Adam hears himself say almost distantly.

Zack nods. “Kim’s never been wrong about anything, you know that. You watched her literally bet her life based on a feeling she got that a murdering prostitute was actually a good person deep down.”

Adam's quiet for a moment, reeling his memories back in. “How long?”

“Two days tops. He’s going to try to unite Overdrive’s rivals. We decided that we were going to handle it with a… dream team of sorts,” Zack says. “A specialized assassination team to take down Thrax. And they’ve decided they want you to lead it.”

“You know I can’t do that,” Adam says softly.

“You’re gonna have to,” Zack replies. “Because they don’t know. I’ve never told them, Adam, because you asked me not to. I’ve kept your damn secret.”

“And I appreciate you keeping it.”

“Yeah, well, look where it’s gotten us.” Zack sighs again, more deeply than before. “You can lead the team; you’re a good leader. And you know more about Thrax than any one of us. You’ll be fine. Probably.”

“As long as Thrax doesn’t bring it up,” Adam mutters. “And what are the chances of that?”

“Well, maybe he won’t be able to unite the rivals,” Zack says. “Maybe we won’t need you.”

“Thrax can do anything he puts his mind to,” Adam argues. Zack doesn’t have a reply to that, and they sit in silence for a while.

“Who’s on this team anyway?” Adam asks finally.

Zack pulls out his phone as a way of replying, pulling up a file before sliding the phone across the table to Zack.

The file is titled, “Dream Team Protocol: Retro Rangers.”


	4. the blue, the green, and the subplot

Storm Chargers always amazes her with its rowdiness. The store never seems to have a lull, never seems to be anything other than bursting with customers. It’s the exact opposite of where you’d expect ninjas to be. Today is no exception; the store is so busy that she has to wait by the counter for a good minute before a woman comes to assist her.

“Sorry about the wait, it is hectic today,” she says with an almost pained smile. “What can I help you with?”

Kim smiles politely. “Can you point me toward Ninja Ops?”

The woman actually manages to look confused. Kim’s mildly impressed. “I’m sorry?”

Kim lifts her arm, letting her sleeve slide down to show the woman the tattoo that decorates the inside of her left wrist. A pink pterodactyl covers her veins and a small yellow lightning bolt flashes across one of its wing. “Ninja Ops?” she repeats.  
The woman’s eyes go wide. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize you,” the woman stutters. Of course she didn’t; Kim never revealed herself when she came to visit the shop. The woman points over her shoulder. “Down the hall, door marked ‘basement.’”

“Thank you,” Kim says with a smile before brushing past the woman to follow her directions.

The stairs are dimly lit, making them feel more ominous than they really need to. The room they lead to is just a bit brighter, but the difference is not marginal. It’s also not very big. There’s room for a sizable computer area (though it’s got nothing on Billy’s set up), a small library in the corner, and room enough in the middle to spar. Which is what two of the ninjas are currently engaged in. Another sits at the computer, apparently reviewing security tapes. A figure stands next to the computer, but it’s hunched over, and she can’t tell who it is. She wonders if the screens that line the room lead to other rooms where the rest of them lurk.

None of them notice her come down the stairs, and she smiles slightly. Rocky would be proud of her considering how often he engages wholeheartedly in the never-ending debate on which ninja team is better.

The two sparring finish and bow to one another. She finally recognizes them when they’re not fighting: Red and Yellow. She applauds lightly to announce her presence. Instantly every eye in the room is on her. She notices how Red immediately stiffens into a ready position that might look natural to an untrained eye and restrains her grin.

“What are you doing here?” The harsh voice comes from the computer guy, and, now that he’s facing her, she recognizes him.

“You filed a territory dispute complaint, Green Samurai,” she says, ignoring his tone and coming all the way into the room. “I handle territory disputes. Surely you must have been expecting me.”

“I filed that claim over two weeks ago,” the samurai counters. “And it was a dispute with Dino Thunder, pertaining to our overlapping turfs. Precedent suggests that you would just arrange for their Red to argue it out with ours, not grace us with your presence.”

She catches the sarcasm but chooses to ignore it. She inspects the scrolls in the library airily. “Perceptive of you.” It doesn’t escape her attention how quiet everyone else is being. She finally places the person standing next to the computer station as the Navy ranger. “I’m here to… compromise with you.”

The Red finally speaks. “What kind of compromise?”

“I’ll give you the turf in exchange for a conversation.”

“A conversation?” Yellow asks, taking a small step forward.

“A conversation,” she replies easily. “And a possible loan. I need to talk to your Blue.”

“Why?” Navy’s tone is far too harsh.

Her eyebrows shoot up. “As if that’s any of your business.”

Navy looks like he’s about to speak again, but Red speaks before him. “I’ll get her.” She sees him flash a look at Navy as he walks toward one of the screens. As she suspected, it pulls back to reveal more rooms. The silence he leaves behind feels heavy. They’re all so clearly uncomfortable and distrustful that it’s almost comical.

Luckily, Red is not gone long. He returns with his Blue in tow. She notes he also fetched his Crimson, completing the set.

“What’s this about?” Blue asks, eyeing her with slightly less distrust than everyone else in the room.

She puts down the scroll she’d been idly inspecting just to annoy the Green. “Is there somewhere we can talk in private? I’ve got a job offer for you.”

~~~

She’s only been to this part of town twice. She’s never really had a reason to visit more than that, but she hears the rumors. Kimberly will give her the occasional update or Aisha will slip her the latest gossip. Tanya sometimes actually comes down here; one of her favorite restaurants is in Mystic Force’s territory. So Trini hears the rumors from them, hears about how nobody really visits Briarwood County, how secretive everyone is, how everyone seems like they’re hiding something.  
This restaurant looks fairly normal, she observes as she is seated. She has timed her visit so that she arrives just on the tail end of the lunch rush. People fill most of the tables around her, providing a nice amount of buffer noise. No one will notice her.

She recognizes the waitress the moment that she rounds the corner. She is younger than Trini, has blond, wavy hair, and wears a look of concentration as she navigates through the tables to deliver food to one of them. Her necklace catches the light as she bends over to put the food down. It’s M-shaped and purple and that would have been Trini’s confirmation had she not already recognized the Gatekeeper. The Gatekeeper had been the reason for one of Trini’s visits down to this part of town. Trini solves problems, and the Gatekeeper had become one. Luckily Trini had been able to clear up that particular mishap without direct involvement; she preferred to only have to talk to Yellows when straightening out things.

The Gatekeeper has now come to stand next to her, smiling brightly. “Welcome to Rootcore! My name is Clare, and I’ll be taking care of you this afternoon. Can I get you anything while you wait for the other half of your reservation?”

Trini smiles blithely up at the girl. “Yes, about the other half of my reservation. I was wondering if you could call him and ask him to be here as soon as he can.”

The girl’s smile falters. “Excuse me?”

Trini tilts her head slightly. “I was hoping to meet with Mystic Green. I understand that you know him? I’d say he’s number…four on your speed dial? How fast can you have him here?”

The Gatekeeper’s smile has dropped altogether. “Who are you?” she asks curtly.

Trini continues to smile. “How rude of me not to introduce myself,” she says before laying her arm on the table palm up. A yellow sabre tooth tiger roars along her forearm, one of its front legs outstretched. Its paw is face up on her wrist, claws curled around a lightning bolt. “Original Yellow, requesting a talk with Mystic Green. And I’ll take a white wine while I wait.”

The Gatekeeper’s eyes have gone wide, and she nods fervently before practically scurrying away.

A different waiter (with no necklace, she notices) brings her the wine a while later. She estimates that it takes about twenty minutes for Mystic Green to sit down opposite her.

“Very prompt. You must have flown here,” she jokes lightly, taking a sip of wine.

“I was nearby,” he replies, visibly uncomfortable. “What can I do for the Original Five? You’ve shown very little interest in us up until now.”

She chuckles lightly. “Very little interest? Did you think your toys just appeared in Udonna’s back room? Did you think the police were just feeling very generous toward your friend Leelee and her mother? Everything you write off as a coincidence has been carefully orchestrated by us. Very little interest my ass.”

He looks hesitant. “I’m sorry if I’ve offended you—”

“It’s no matter,” she interrupts. “You now have the opportunity to repay our generosity.”

“How?” he asks, still hesitant, like she might snap at any moment.

“Help us kill someone,” she states simply. “With the help of a dream team we put together.”

Mystic Green is silent for a moment before he leans forward in his seat. “I’m listening.”

~~~

Her phone starts buzzing just as she reaches her bike. Kim glances at the caller ID before answering it curtly.

“Go.”

“I’ve got news from uptown. Way uptown,” the voice on the other end says.

She sighs, leaning against her bike. “If it’s the Machines again—”

“It’s not the Machines. Thankfully. You remember Dai Shi?”

“Should I?” she asks curtly.

“Stirred up some trouble a couple of years back. We told him to get lost, so he decided to camp out just outside our sphere of control. Hallucinogen dealer who seems to specialize in bad trips, always working through some other guy, didn’t have many supporters… Ringing any bells?”

She thinks for a moment. “The one RJ and his dad were always obsessed with?”

“The very same. Anyway, word is that he’s looking to come back. He’s amassing himself a nice little crew. When he finds the right guy to be his front, he’ll be down there causing trouble.”

Kimberly sighs. “Great. Like I didn’t have enough to deal with right now.”

“Thrax?”

She closes her eyes and rubs the bridge of her nose with her index finger and her thumb. “We’ll talk about how you know about that and didn’t tell me before Rita got the chance to later. Right now, I’ll drop in on RJ, tell him and Trini to start picking out his three.”

“Three?” the caller asks.

“Hallucinogen dealer? Three’ll be fine to start. Plus RJ has always said that he’d be willing to ranger-up if it was ever necessary. Thanks for the tip.”

“Always a pleasure. You hear from our Red recently?”

Kim pauses. “Not since Jase sent him undercover. Why?”

The line is silence for a moment too long. “No reason. Just wondering. Tell Six to have dinner waiting for me next time I’m in town, okay?”

She grins. “Always.”

As she lowers her phone, the caller ID shines in the darkness. The screen reads, “Phantom,” before she ends the call.


	5. the rest, the debrief, and the organization

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a reminder that Adam Park is a nerd who’s in love with all his best friends.

“Why does Hayley always open so late?”

Kira stiffens, her hand twitching toward the gun at her side before the logical part of her brain catches up and places the voice. She relaxes and resumes wiping the counters.

“All her clientele is still in school. It would be a waste of time to open earlier.”

“Ah. Well, that begs the question as to why _you_ aren’t in school right now.”

“Better question,” Kira begins, and she does turn now to face the empty café. Except it’s not empty: Original Yellow sits at the table in the corner near the door, looking very much at ease. “How did you know where to find me?”

Yellow smiles. “I’ve got a job for you,” she says, not answering the question.

Kira raises her eyebrows. “You haven’t had a job for me since I was active.”

She shrugs, not a bit apologetic. “I prefer to work with actives. Plus, your mentor is overprotective.”

Kira cracks a reluctant smile. “Dr. O is…Dr. O.”

Yellow raises her eyebrows, still smiling. “I’ve noticed.”

“So did Dr. O approve of this job you have for me?” Kira asks, making her way over to the table where Yellow sits and taking a seat herself.

Yellow grimaces slightly. “Not exactly. But he probably won’t find out about it until it’s too late to do anything. And he can’t really do anything because his protest about you doing this job would be a Mentor protest not a Second protest, so I override him.”

Kira raises her eyebrows. “You’ve thought this through. Am I going to have to seduce someone or something?”

Yellow sighs. “Unfortunately it isn’t nearly that exciting. Just an assassination job. With a team.”

Kira echoes her sigh sarcastically. “Darn, just an assassination. No fun at all.”

“Hey,” Yellow protests, looking like she’s fighting a smile. “Don't sass your superiors.”

Kira holds up her hands in surrender. “Yes, ma’am. Just tell me what to do, and it’ll get done.”

Yellow does smile now. “I don’t doubt it.”

~~~

Z leans back in her chair with a groan. “Fuck paperwork,” she mutters, rubbing her eyes.

“Amen,” she hears Syd mutter from behind her.

“Do you ever get the feeling that Sky keeps us here later than everyone else on purpose?” Bridge says contemplatively. Z looks over at him and discovers that he’s currently attempting to balance a pencil on his nose.

“Oh, definitely,” Syd agrees, her voice muted. Her head lies on her arms like she’s ready to take a nap. Z turns back to her desk with a sigh. She hasn’t gotten much more done than her teammates. She wonders briefly if Sky will actually punish them if they don’t get it done.

“Good to see that I’m not interrupting anything.”

Z practically whirls around in her seat. Her eyes widen upon seeing who it is.

“Original Yellow!” Z exclaims. “Can we help you with something?”

The woman lounging in the precinct doorway smirks slightly. “Lovely to see you Z, as always, but I’m not here for you.” Her eyes drifting past Z to settle on Bridge. “Are you the Green?”

Bridge blinks, seeming confused by the question. “Me?”

“Yes, you. In the green shirt,” Original Yellow says patiently.

“Uh, yes, I think?” Bridge responds. “I mean, the SPD color system is sort of—”

“Cadet Carson,” Original Yellow cuts him off. He closes his mouth and nods. “Excellent.” She glances around the precinct almost lazily. “Nice set up you have here. You know, I’ve always wondered: how do you keep people from accidentally seeing your tattoos? Like, what if you sleeve slips or something?” Original Yellow’s eyes fall on Syd expectantly.

Syd raises her arm hesitantly. “Bracelets.”

Yellow smiles. “Fascinating. So, Green. Any chance you might be able to get off of work for a while? I’ve got a job offer for you.”

~~~

The knife hits the board with a thud nowhere near the center.

“Come on, Adam; get your head in the game!” Tanya teases from her bar stool.

He shoots her a look. “I’ve had a rough couple of days, okay?”

She makes a face at him and comes over to where he’s standing to take her shot. Her knife hits just left of the center. She grins at him, and he sticks his tongue out at her.

She tilts her head to the side, her smile dimming thoughtfully. “You know, if this Thrax thing is bothering you so much, you should call Rocky and Aisha.”

He shakes his head, lining up his next shot. “No. They’re having fun. I don’t want to bother them.” Another miss.

She rolls her eyes. “I can guarantee that their skiing trip is less important to them than their best friend’s sanity.”

“They’ll come back if I tell them,” he protests.

“Is that such a bad thing?” She takes her next knife out.

_Rocky’s hands, covered in blood. Adam shaking him and telling him that they had to go, they had to get out._

_Aisha screaming at him, tears streaming down her cheeks. He can’t hear her, but her lips keep forming the word, “Don’t.”_

Her knife hits the board with a thud.

Adam shakes his head slightly to clear it. “They don’t need to come back. Kim said two days. Two days is almost up, and there’s no Thrax.”

Adam knows that Tanya caught the slight tremor in his tone, but she graciously does not say anything about it. She hands him another throwing knife. “Well, your team looks…nice.”

He snorts, grateful for the change in subject. “Yeah, in the same way that a knife looks nice before it plunges into your back.” This shot is more accurate, if only by a little.

“Are you really that worried about them?” She takes her last shot.

He sighs, sits down on a stool, and begins listing them off. “Well, I’ve got a kid from Mystic Force, which none of us really know jack shit about. Another kid is from _Ninja Storm_. Ninja Storm, Tanya. The Yellow’s coming from Tommy’s kids, who I’ve never actually met despite them being _Tommy’s kids._ And then, just for the hell of it, the Original Five put a guy from _SPD_ on it. This team is a disaster, Tanya.”

She sits down next to him, laughing. “You’re a drama queen; it’s not a disaster. I’ve met the Mystic Force kid a couple times; he’s nice. And cute.”

“Cute?” He looks at her sideways.

“Cute,” she repeats innocently. “And Rocky likes Ninja Storm.”

Adam rolls his eyes. “Yeah, because Ninja Storm _lets_ Rocky like them.”

She shoots him a look. “The girl on Tommy's team is friendly and spirited and _a Yellow_. All three of those things are your type.”

“I don’t have a type,” he says, crossing his arms. “And she’s Tommy’s kid so that’s gross.”

Tanya continues like he didn’t say anything. “And what do you have against SPD? They’re all nice and got rid of that parking ticket for you that one time. Probably have gotten rid of a couple of murder charges, too.”

He stares at her. “They’re cops, Tanya.”

She shoves him. “You’re a melodramatic _child_.”

“I am not a child!” he protests, pouting at her. She laughs, and, after a moment, he reluctantly smiles.

She points at him. “See, look, don’t you feel better?”

He glares at her, but all semblance of anger is taken from the expression by his smile. “How dare you make me feel better when I’m trying to pout and complain.”

She shrugs, smirking at him. “Yeah, well, I completely slaughtered you at knife throwing, so if you wanna go back to pouting now, I give you permission.”

“You know knife throwing isn’t my thing,” he says. “Give me an axe and a gun any day. Leave the knives for Aisha and Trini to fuck with.”

“Ah, well then, let’s add that to your type: ‘can kick your ass at knife throwing, especially in fighting situations.’”

He elbows her playfully, grinning more. “You and Rocky have never used knives in a fight so I don’t think it technically applies.”

“I hardly used a weapon besides a gun before Turbo,” she argues with a laugh.

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t have used knives,” he argues back.

“How do you know?” she asks, her grin widening.

He shrugs. “Because I trained you. And if I had trained you to use a weapon it wouldn’t have been knives.”

“Oh? And what would it have been?”

He looks at her mock-thoughtfully. “I can see you with nunchuks.”

She rolls her eyes fondly and stands to remove the knives from the board. “Let’s go home before you get any ideas.”

He stands, grinning, when suddenly his phone starts ringing. He glances at the caller ID and frowns before answering it. “Billy?”

“Thrax showed up,” Billy says without preamble. “And he united all of Overdrive’s rivals by some miracle. Overdrive’s down, and they’re not getting up any time soon. Your team will be meeting you at Overdrive's warehouse within the hour. I’ll text you the location.” Billy hangs up abruptly.

Adam lowers his phone slowly before looking over at Tanya. Her expression had darkened during the call. Adam opens his mouth to explain, but she shakes her head.

“Go kick his ass,” she says, jerking her chin in the direction of the door. He smiles softly at her and nods. He turns to leave, but she says, “And Adam?” He turns back toward her, tilting his head in question. “Don’t let that secret you’ve been keeping from me destroy you, okay?”

He feels a flash of guilt, but her expression doesn’t look angry, just determined. He nods again and rushes out of the bar.

~~~

Nearly every team has their own warehouse. They are usually situated on the edge of the team’s territory and are mostly used as contingency places. If the worst were to happen, the warehouses would be where the rangers would go. The warehouses are technically owned by the front company that many rangers are technically employed to which was once owned and operated by Zordon. In the wake of his death, Billy and Tommy both stepped up and began co-running it since they were the only two to ever actually get college degrees. So most teams have warehouses. Operation Overdrive’s looks unimpressive.

Trini is leaning in the back doorway when he arrives.

“What are you doing here?” he asks curtly.

She raises an eyebrow at him. “My job. The rest of your team has already arrived; Billy asked me to brief all of you.” She pushes the door open and walks inside, obviously expecting him to follow. He does with a sigh.

The back entrance leads to the back hallway which feeds into the main room. It’s brighter than the hallway, and Adam has to blink for a moment before his eyes adjust. Four people stand around the table.

“Everyone,” Trini says loudly, and they all immediately look up. She continues when they are both next to the table. “Meet the second Mighty Morphin Black, Zeo Ranger IV, Green Turbo, Original Black’s Second, and your leader until Thrax is dead.”

“You can call me Adam, since you’re my teammates now,” Adam offers.

“Or you can do what his teammates actually do and call him stupid frog nicknames to annoy him,” Trini suggests. Adam shoots her a dirty look and hears a couple of them stifle giggles, but Trini just continues, “As you know, earlier today Thrax showed up in Operation Overdrive’s turf with all four of their rivals and effectively wiped Overdrive out. Their Mentor tells me that it will be a week at least before they can even stand much less fight. Since Mentors tend to exaggerate, I'd say they'll be ready to fight in a week. Regardless, they probably deserve a vacation, so, your job is to eliminate Thrax, protect the turf, and protect the jewels."

"What happened to Thrax after the fight?" Adam asks.

"After the fight, Thrax and all the rivals disappeared. Original Pink’s people are out looking for them now, checking all their usual lurking places. She tells me that she will have an update in the morning,” Trini answers.

“Back up, what jewels?” one of the girls asks.

“Adam will be giving you a more in depth briefing shortly,” Trini says. “Before I leave, let me give you a quick tour of your new home. This is Overdrive’s warehouse. You need to be easily deployable, so you will not leave this warehouse or Overdrive’s territory until the job is done.” Adam notices the girls exchange uneasy looks. “Overdrive's Mentor, Mr. Hartford, has kindly offered you all of Overdrive’s weapons and vehicles. You will find them all in the weapons room and the attached garage.” Trini points to her left where a door sits. “Use anything you like. The other room,” she points to the right, “is fully equipped with monitoring systems and injury treatment. You will find your technical support waiting for you there.”

“We get tech support?” a boy asks. This is news to Adam as well.

Trini smiles. “You’re a team, aren’t you? We activated an old Alpha who was happy to assist.” Adam looks at Trini sharply, but she seems oblivious. “I’m told you also have access to Overdrive’s systems and support if you should need it. The hallway Adam and I entered from has two branches. If you go down it and turn left, you’ll find rooms like a fully stocked kitchen and a living area. To the right are your bedrooms. You’ll find clothes and toiletries already there. Hartford wanted to make sure you were comfortable. And that’s it.” She turns to Adam. “Call me if you need anything; don’t do anything until Kim contacts you about Thrax’s location,” she instructs before brushing past him.

He waits to hear the door close before turning back to the team. His team.

“Well, first thing’s first; I have no idea who any of you are,” Adam says plainly.

One of the girls smiles at that. Both of the girls are built similarly, he notes. Smaller frames which, upon closer inspection, mask their muscular builds well. He imagines that they must be used to being underestimated. One of them is obviously an athlete of some kind; the other appears to just be trained very, very well.

The one who smiled speaks first. “Kira Ford, Dino Thunder Yellow. Nice to meet you.”

“Tommy’s kid,” Adam says almost automatically. “Little Ptero.”

She raises her eyebrows. “So you know Dr. O?”

“Wow, he really didn’t tell you guys anything, did he?” Adam remarks mildly.

Kira shrugs, a little defensive. “Dr. O is… secretive about early ranger stuff.”

Adam wonders if Tommy even told them how he became a ranger. “Remind me to give him hell for that. I was on three different teams with him. Four, if you count the ninjas.”

“We don’t,” the other girl says. She extends her hand. “Tori Hanson, Ninja Storm Blue.”

He takes it. “Your team’s not going to kill me, are they?” he jokes lightly.

She smirks as she pulls her hand back. “Don’t worry; I made sure to thoroughly threaten them before I left. Believe it or not, you should probably be more worried about Kira’s Red.”

Kira shrugs. “Conner’s a little overprotective.”

“A little?” one of the boys inputs. Adam shifts his attention to the boys. They stand at similar heights, the one who spoke a little smaller than the other. The other one clearly has more muscle on him, but that's no guarantee of his power. The boy continues, “He nearly killed Jack that one time.”

Kira shoots the guy a look then rolls her eyes. “Okay, so, maybe a little protective all the time and a lot protective when Reds flirt with me or Ethan. Both of us at the same time? You’re lucky I didn't have to make funeral plans for all five of you.”

“That means you’re SPD Green, right?” Adam interjects. “If you’ve met Dino Thunder.”

“Yeah, Bridge Carson,” the boys says, shaking Adam’s hand. “Awesome to meet you; I’ve heard great things.”

“Probably half of them aren’t true,” Adam says before shifting his gaze to the last one. “And that makes you Mystic Green.”

“The name’s Xander,” he says, offering a hand. Adam takes it. “Pleasure.”

“So what do we need to know?” Kira asks.

Adam smiles and raises his voice. “Alpha?”

A pause, then the door to Adam’s right swings open. “Adam!” It was probably amusing, watching the person who emerged from the room rush over and embrace Adam considering that they only came up to just past Adam’s waist. “I didn’t hear any of you come in; I was so caught up in the security tapes that Billy sent over that I—”

“It’s okay, Six,” Adam says with a laugh. “Rangers, meet Alpha Six. They are your tech support until this whole mess gets cleaned up.”

“Oh, my God; an Alpha?” Tori exclaims. “You and your siblings are legendary.”

Six blushes. “You flatter me. Here, Adam.” They shove a tablet into his hands. “It’s got the Overdrive file and Thrax’s file on it.”

Adam smiles down at them. “You’re the best.” Six blushes harder and scurries back to the tech room. Adam puts the tablet on the table. “All right; gather around.”

He pulls up Overdrive’s file, then pulls up a picture of Hartford. “Okay, so, a while back Andrew Hartford waltzes into Ernie’s and asks Original Red to form a ranger team for him. He offers to fund the whole thing, provide a base of operation, keep the police away: the whole nine yards. The only condition is that the rangers help him find the jewels of the Corona Aurora, which is a super old crown.” He pulls up a picture of it with all its jewels. “And when I say ‘the only condition,’ I mean the only official condition. He heavily implied that he’d like to be the Red on the team. Anyway, I don’t know if you know anything about Original Red, but he really hates being told what to do by people he thinks don’t have the rangers’ best interest at heart. The only thing he hates more is letting those people win. So he agreed to the team with his own condition. Usually, Original Yellow will coordinate with the Mentor on picking out team members, and Hartford knew it. Original Red's condition was that Original Yellow pick all the team members by herself. Hartford agreed, figuring that it was a pretty mild condition. So, Yellow very innocently picked Hartford’s son as Red.” He pulls up a picture of the team.

Kira laughs. “Classic.”

Adam flashes a smile at her. “Anyway, that’s all just background. Our concern is their rivals. Here’s the thing about being a ranger team after something valuable: you attract more enemies. Four groups of them, to be precise.”

“Any of them Alliance?” Bridge asks as Adam pulls up pictures of the four groups.

Adam shakes his head. “Gruumm’s been our only new Alliance member since Trakeena. Whoever’s running the Alliance now is being very selective.”

“They technically offered Lothor a spot,” Tori mutters. “He just turned it down.”

“Our first two groups,” Adam begins, enlarging the first two pictures, “are run by Flurious and Moltor respectively. They’re brothers, and both are mercenaries, but they hate each other so they don't work together. Both of them are after the crown and the jewels. Next is Kamdor and Miratrix, the drug dealing duo of the century. If you can think of it, they’ve dealt it; they just want the turf. The Fearcats want both, and they don’t care in what order. Hartford seems to think they’ve been hired by someone but can’t seem to figure out who. Up until earlier today, they were all fighting each other as well as Operation Overdrive. Now, we’re fighting them along with Thrax.”

Adam closes Overdrive’s file, but doesn't pull up a picture of Thrax. “Here's the thing about Thrax— He’s not like anyone you’ve ever faced. Forget the rules, forget the diplomacy, forget… Forget everything you’ve ever learned about ranger rivals. Thrax doesn’t play by any of those rules. Forget motives. Forget power struggles and territory claims and revenge; Thrax doesn’t care. He does things because he wants to. That’s it. No ulterior motive. He doesn’t respect boundaries, he doesn’t abide by neutrality agreements, he doesn’t care about the home base rule.” He stops, closing is eyes briefly, willing them to understand. “Thrax will go after anything and everything you love if he thinks it will make this more fun for him." He looks at Kira. "He’ll go after your teammates.” Looks at Tori. “Your coworkers.” At Bridge. “Your home.” At Xander. “Your family.” Adam takes deep breath. “Thrax doesn’t play by the rules, but we still have to follow ours. Because no matter what Thrax does to us, we’re still rangers. He can’t take that from us.”

_“You’re still a ranger, Adam.” Aisha’s desperate voice, screaming at him across the warehouse. “Don’t let him take it from you.”_

He blinks. “So no matter what Thrax does, the rules still apply. Do you understand?”

They all nod. “But how do we beat someone that lawless?” Bridge asks cautiously.

“We…extend the rules. Make some new ones,” Adam answers. “You’re a cop, right Bridge?”

Bridge shifts uncomfortably. “Yes.”

“Not anymore, you’re not. Rule One: Thrax leaves Angel Grove in a body bag. No arrests are being made in regards to Thrax. Take his men down like you normally would, but if you see a kill shot on Thrax and don’t take it, I’m gonna be pretty pissed.”

Bridge nods curtly. Adam addresses the rest of the group. “Don’t think about him like a big bad. Think of him as…your bad guy of the week. Your super vindictive, twisted bad guy of the week.” Nods from everyone. “Good. Any questions?”

Heavy silence, then Tori raises her hand. "Tori?"

Very seriously, she asks, “Zeo Ranger III says that you have a frog tramp stamp. Is that true?”

“...Any serious questions?”

"That was a completely serious question, and I resent that you think otherwise."

~~~

Trini is halfway to her bike when she realizes who’s following her. She stops in the middle of the deserted road and turns to face the alley she had just vacated. “Something I can help you with, sir?”

For a moment, nothing happens. Then, a man steps out of the alley, already smiling pleasantly. “So. You’re just as good as they say you are.”

“I don’t like being followed,” Trini says mildly. “Especially by people like you.”

The man raises his hands in mock-surrender. “I just want to have a conversation with you. Is that a crime punishable by your vigilante group now?”

“The rangers are not vigilantes,” Trini corrects, her tone still pleasant. “And we’ve made it abundantly clear what we think of your organization.”

“They say you’re the problem solver,” the man says like she hadn’t spoken at all. He takes a step closer to her, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He’s trying to look non-threatening, she realizes.

She smiles smoothly. “I arrange all teams, so, yes, I find that I am adept at problem-solving.”

“Many of the problems you solve have very…permanent solutions.”

She raises an eyebrow carefully. “Sometimes the simplest solution is to eliminate the source of the problem indefinitely. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Oh yes,” he says hurriedly, still smiling at her. “Which is why I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind solving a problem for me and my organization. See, we tried handling it internally, but we have had no luck.”

“I don’t like your organization, sir,” she says, smiling right back. “And I don’t want to solve your problem. Now if you’ll excuse me, the night is still young, and I am very busy.” She turns and walks the rest of the way to her bike.

Her hand is on the handlebars when he speaks again. “Have you ever heard the name Venjix?”

She freezes, then turns back to face him slowly. “General Venjix is dead.”

The man’s smile has turned slightly sad. “Well, you’re technically right, but you must know that that’s only half the truth.”

She’s silent for a moment, weighing her options. Finally, she takes a step forward. “I’m listening.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alpha Six has neutral pronouns because ???? They're a robot in canon, they had a male voice box then a female voice box then a ???? voice box, and the rangers pretty much only refer to them as "Alpha Six" (Alpha Five got more of the 'he/him' treatment) so I can do whatever I want in the pronoun department.  
> Alpha Five and Seven theoretically exist somewhere out there. Maybe they'll come up later.


	6. the set-up, the knight, and places we're supposed to be

Angel Grove is not a city where people stay out after midnight.

Or, at least, he always got that impression from the times _he_ went out after midnight. Maybe it’s different in this part of the city because this bar is fairly crowded. Enough to where Xander won’t relax next to him. He hasn't even touched his club soda. To be fair, he didn't want the club soda. Bridge didn't really want one either, but they were technically working so it’s not like they could drink.

“This is a Pink’s job,” Xander mutters, glancing over his shoulder for the umpteenth time.

“Well, we don’t have a Pink,” Bridge answers, very reasonably, he thinks.

“We have a Yellow.”

“That’s not the same thing.”

Xander seems like he was about to shoot back another retort, but his phone buzzes, interrupting him. He glances at it.

“Kira says that Alpha’s found nothing on any of the area’s cameras. We should head back; this was a long shot anyway.”

“No,” Bridge says. “Give it two more hours. If they’re going to show, they’ll do it in the next two hours.”

“They haven’t shown yet, Bridge,” Xander argues.

“We have to let the time window run out,” Bridge argues back. “Between twelve and three in the morning: that’s when Adam’s Pink says the Fearcats show up here.”

They stay, but the two hours drag. It isn't until they've exited the bar and are halfway to their bikes that anything exciting happens.

Bridge sees them first out of the corner of his eye: two shadows lurking behind the corner of an upcoming alley. _Ambush_ is his first thought. He nudges Xander slightly, willing him to notice. Bridge always has been more sensitive than others to things like this, but it’s not like he can just tell Xander. Thankfully, Xander appears to notice because he tenses up slightly. It’s the kind of tension no one else would notice, the kind of tension that Sky calls ‘ranger tension.’ The kind of tension a ranger gets when they’re preparing to fight.

It’s almost too easy, too fast. The shadows pounce, but the rangers are faster. Bridge knocks the first flying punch out of the way and retaliates with a punch of his own, nailing his assailant in the jaw. The Fearcat stumbles back, briefly, but recovers faster than Bridge expects. Absurdly, Bridge thinks _cat-like reflexes_ as he’s kicked squarely in the chest. The kick sends him to the ground, but Bridge uses this opportunity to sweep the Cat’s feet out from under him and promptly pin him to the ground. He struggles for a moment, but Bridge is nothing if not efficient and thorough.

“How did you know we were here?” Bridge demands. At the edge of his perception, he becomes aware that Xander has pinned his Fearcat against the alley wall. _Too easy_.

The Fearcat practically hisses at him. Bridge applies more pressure to the Cat’s side with his knee. “Thrax didn't tell us there’d be more of you,” the Fearcat says, his eyes darting to Xander before looking back at Bridge with hatred.

“That doesn't answer my question,” Bridge says.

“Miratrix.” The answer comes from the other Fearcat, who has finally stopped struggling against Xander’s hold on him. “Miratrix told us that some rangers were snooping around, looking for us.”

“How’d she know we were looking for one of you?” Xander demands.

“Fuck if we know,” Bridge’s Cat spits. “Why are you snooping around our bar, so far away from your turfs?”

“It’s a neutral bar,” Bridge points out. “We can go there if we want.”

“Though the service was shit,” Xander says. “I don’t think we’ll be returning.” Suddenly, Xander knees the Fearcat he’s holding right between the legs and lets go. The Cat doubles over. “Come on, Green. Let’s leave these poor fuckers alone.”

Bridge stands to let the Fearcat up. He darts to his feet and promptly lashes out at Bridge with his claws. And they really are retractable metal claws that both the Fearcats have strapped to their hands. Bridge had noted them before, but they had been sheathed so they weren't really a problem. The claws rake against Bridge’s thigh, stinging a little, but the Cat is already moving away as he does it so it’s not an enormous amount of damage.

He realizes now that Xander has a couple of hits cataloged on him. A bruise forming on his jaw. Claw marks on his shoulder. Nothing too bad, though.

They turn to leave, but the Fearcat that Xander had kneed calls back to them. “Are there more of you?”

They pause. After a moment, Xander turns and replies, “Yeah. Rangers look after one another. You take down one of us, another will rise in their place. Tell Thrax that, will you?”

~~~

“You look like shit,” is the first thing Tori says to Xander and Bridge upon their return. In truth, they don't look that bad, but Tori is nothing if not good at giving her male teammates a hard time.

Xander smiles blithely at her. “And a good morning to you too, Tori. Glad to see you weren't killed in the night.”

Tori grins. “Sorry. Good morning Xander; I’m glad you’re not dead. You look like shit.”

“The Fearcats ran into us. Literally,” Bridge responds.

“Did they give you much trouble?” Kira asks idly from where she’s seated on the floor, watching her allotted part of the security footage they’re both currently combing through.

“No,” Xander replies. “Which is suspicious.”

“Maybe they really are the weakest link,” Tori suggests.

“Or maybe they’re playing us,” Kira says. “Did you set the trackers?”

“Yeah.”

“God bless rich sponsors for equipping us with shit like this.” Tori mutters, pulling up the tracker locations on her tablet.

“I wouldn't trust them,” Bridge says. “Like Xander says, they were too easy to defeat. And they were waiting for us. Miratrix somehow knew we were coming and tipped them off. Those trackers could be leading us straight into a trap.”

“Any trap that’s set will have Thrax at the center of it,” Adam says, walking into the main room from Alpha’s, with Alpha trailing behind.

“I think we’re thinking about this wrong,” Kira says, standing up. “We keep thinking about where he should be, but we’re not ruling out where he isn't.” She looks at Adam expectantly.

Adam shifts slightly, crossing his arms. “Well, Thrax isn't going to be on any security footage, though it doesn't hurt to check for doctored footage. Might give us a clue. He’s probably not going to be wherever those trackers are leading us. He’s not going to be where he was last time. And he’s not going to be with any Alliance members or gangs other than Overdrive’s rivals.”

“Not even his parents?” Xander asks.

“Especially not his parents. We’d know within minutes if he went anywhere near them. Besides, he didn't come to visit with his parents.”

“Then why did he come?” Bridge asks.

“I told you, there's not really a 'why'—”

“What about the Sentinel Knight?” Alpha’s voice is quiet, almost timid. Adam turns and looks at them with an unreadable expression.

“Who’s the Sentinel Knight?” Tori asks after it becomes clear that no one is going to explain.

Adam sighs. “The reason we were able to defeat Thrax last time. At least, we think.”

“He’s helped the Overdrive rangers significantly. It would make sense,” Alpha suggests.

“ _We think_ he’s helped the Overdrive rangers significantly,” Adam corrects. “Technically, we can’t even really prove that he exists.”

“Oh, he’s real all right,” Alpha says, their conviction soft and insistent.

“I believe you, Alpha, but we still can’t _prove_ it. That’d be like…trying to prove that _luck_ is real. We'd like to think he's responsible for all those things, but he could have just been responsible for a couple of isolated events. A random good Samaritan.”

“What do you mean you _think_ he helped you defeat Thrax last time?” Kira cuts in, sounding a touch exasperated. “How you not know?”

“It’s…a long story,” Adam says. “Long and complicated.”

Kira raises her eyebrows. “We've got time.”

“Zeo Ranger I named him,” Alpha says suddenly. “Jokingly. ‘Sentinel’ because he watches over us. ‘Knight’ because he seems to follow some code of honor, like rangers. He shows up every couple of years, helps us out, then vanishes again. The first time was the warehouse incident.”

"What happened?" Xander asks.

Adam replies, almost reluctantly, “He just, showed up. Helped me pull some people out of the burning warehouses. He asked me who set the fire, and I told him. And he told me that he’d make him stop. The next day Thrax was shipped off to boarding school upstate. I didn't think anything of it until the same guy showed up in Ernie’s while Dino Thunder was active. Told Original Red to look out for the high school principle and disappeared again. Sure enough, good old Elsa turns up on the side of Mesogog within the week. It’s little things like that. There are a lot of things we think he does, but that we can’t necessarily prove. Like, with Operative Overdrive: Hartford only started the jewel hunt because he got an unsigned letter telling him about them. Sometimes they get weapons or tips from anonymous sources. We can’t prove that all these things are him, but it’s the only explanation we really have.”

“So, what you’re saying is, if we locate the Sentinel Knight, we could probably get Thrax to come to us?” Kira asks. "Because it's possible that he wants revenge?"

Adam shrugs. “Like I said, it could have been a coincidence. But it's worth looking into, at least. And we should also really, _really_  rule out the things we've ruled out. Sift through the rest of the security footage. Send somebody to scope out the tracker location, just in case. Check where he was last time. Just, you know, covering our bases.”

“Sounds good,” Tori says. She looks around at the group once. “Do you guys wanna draw straws for the jobs or does someone wanna volunteer to walk into the tracker-trap?”

~~~

Adam sits alone in the kitchen almost-frowning at his phone when Kira enters.

“Hey,” she says to draw his attention. He looks up, but it obviously takes him a moment to focus on her.

“Hey. Shouldn't you be…” He seems to forget what she should be doing, so she helps him.

“…Looking through security footage? Yeah. Alpha and I are taking it in shifts so that we can actually get some sleep.”

“So, you’re supposed to be sleeping right now,” Adam says.

She rolls her eyes and moves toward the fridge. “Yeah, and you’re supposed to be looking for the Sentinel Knight.”

“I am!” he protests, holding up his phone. “I’m talking to Original Red about it now, seeing what he knows and if we can’t get some help.”

She pulls some milk out of the fridge. “And what does he know?”

Adam sighs. “Very little. But it looks like he’s gonna recruit some help in the ‘finding those who don’t want to be found’ field. Are you making cereal?”

She had now procured a bowl and was looking for the cereal box. “Yeah. You want some?”

“No thanks,” Adam declines. “You’re supposed to be sleeping.”

She chuckles a little. “You sound like Dr. O.”

Adam looks at her a little funny. “Does he show concern over your sleeping habits?”

She pours herself some Cheerios. “Yeah, that and just about everything else. He acts more like a parent than a mentor.”

Adam shrugs and looks down at his phone, idly scrolling. “Probably got that from Zordon.”

“Zordon…” Kira says. “I've heard that name before.”

Adam’s attention is immediately back on her. “You’re joking. You know who Zordon is. You _have_ to know who Zordon is.”

She puts away the milk, done with it now. “Wasn't he like, the first mentor or something?”

“Yes, he was the first mentor,” Adam says a little incredulously. “My mentor. _Tommy’s_ mentor. The mentor of your mentor. Tell me that Tommy’s mentioned him before.”

Kira shrugs, getting out a spoon. “Like I said, he doesn't tell us much. He barely talks about his previous rangering experiences, except for when they're relevant to a life lesson we're supposed to be learning. I don’t think he ever talked about Zordon. Well, except for the time that Hayley got him drunk and bet him that he couldn't relay the whole of rangering history in under thirty minutes.”

“Oh my God,” Adam remarks mildly.

Kira smiles. “He did it in twenty three. Hayley showed us the video she took once when she was super pissed at him. So yeah. I've heard a lot of names in passing, but nothing really concrete. Was Zordon super parental?”

Adam smiles faintly. “Yeah, but in a well-meaning way. He wanted us to get eight hours of sleep every night. Wanted us to study, wanted us to join clubs and have other friends, wanted us to graduate with at least 3.5 GPAs or something. All while trying to make Angel Grove a better place, or whatever.”

Kira laughs softly. “That sounds just like Dr. O.”

“Don’t know why. He knows how annoying it was.”

Kira chuckles along with him, trying to imagine a teenaged Dr. O getting annoyed at his mentor.

“So what happened to him?” Kira asks at length, trying to ask it casually while poking at her cereal with her spoon. “I mean, I know that he died but…”

Adam’s expression changes imperceptibly. “Well, the Alliance got him, and then he got blown up. The team at the time, the Astros, they had set a bomb in Dark Spectre’s hide-out. And, uh, when their Red, when Andros found Zordon in there, he tried to call off the bomb, but, uh…” Adam shrugs, a little helplessly. “Zordon told him to blow it up anyway.”

Kira stares very intently at her cereal. She can almost feel the horror of that decision weighing on her.

“That bomb took out half the Alliance. Crippled it, for all intents and purposes. Hasn't been a threat since then. Astro Rangers were treated like heroes by all of Angel Grove. And Tommy’s never forgiven them.”

Kira lets that sink in for a moment before asking, “Is that why he doesn't talk about it? Because he can’t?”

Adam shrugs one shoulder. “Maybe. Tommy endured a lot of terrible shit in his run. But, then again, we all did. And we all talk about it just fine.”

“Was he really fourteen when he became a ranger?” Kira asks softly, almost in a whisper. It feels like a shameful question to ask, but she’s not sure why.

Adam shakes his head. “Fifteen. All the Originals were fourteen, but he didn't come in until later. He at least told you that story, right?”

Kira nods. “Yeah. Life lessons, remember? Conner, my Red, he didn't want to accept our White at first on account of the mistakes he’d made so, yeah. We got that lecture.” Suddenly, she feels her phone vibrate in her pocket and pulls it out. “My Blue. I gotta take this or he’ll think I’m dead.” Adam nods, understanding. “Thanks for telling me all that, though.”

“Hey, it's the least I can do to repay you for agreeing to join this team,” Adam says with a small smile.

“Of course. Once and always and all that shit, right?” Kira says with a grin.

Adam rolls his eyes. “Of course the one thing Tommy teaches you is once and fucking always.”

~~~

“The fact that you pulled through that explosion with a cut forehead and some bruised ribs while the rest of us got the shit taken out of us just proves my theory that you’re not actually a real human being at all,” Ronny complains loudly from her bed across the room.

“Oh shut up,” Mack says lightly, shrugging on his jacket.

“It’s true; you’re a robot that Hartford built in his basement, and I can prove it.” She rolls over onto her side so that she can look him in the eye in the mirror. She holds up one finger. “Didn’t cry when we watched _Titanic_.” A second finger. “Don’t like cotton candy.” A third. “Didn’t break every bone in your body when we all got blown the fuck up. Conclusion: You, Mack, are a robot. Case closed, the FBI can hire me now.”

Mack chuckles softly as she flops back down on the bed. He reaches for his comb just as Will pipes up from the other side of the room where he and Dax are playing cards. “Ronny, he was standing furthest away from the blast. Also, you know romance movies aren’t his thing. And cotton candy tastes like fluffy sugar shit.”

“Exactly!” she says, sitting up so fast that she winces, pointing a finger at him. “Who doesn’t like fluffy sugar shit? A robot, come to destroy us all; that’s who.”

“If Hartford built him in the basement, why would he want to destroy us all?” Rose asks idly, not even looking up from her book.

That question appears to stump Ronny so Dax jumps in to her defense. “Because Hartford is secretly from the future where we’ve all become super villains so he got sent back in time to stop us. To do this, he built a robot and made us all rangers to get us all in one place so the robot could slowly earn our trust and destroy us. It’s like _Terminator_.”

“That’s not even vaguely the plot of _Terminator_ ,” Will says.

Their bickering fades into the background, as it usually does these days. They’ve all been “indefinitely” (as his dad put it) confined to the recovery room. Contrary to how they sound, they’re all pretty messed up. And, contrary to Ronny’s complaints, Mack had actually been hit badly as well. His cut forehead came from the concussion he had obtained. He’d been unconscious until yesterday evening. His bruised ribs include a couple of breaks that Ronny had left out. But he had been deemed the most fit to actually walk a greater distance than just to the bathroom and back, and Original Red had requested that they send a ranger to meet with him as soon as one was able. His dad had been furious at the request and rejected it immediately, but Mack had understood. Red needed to know when they were up and moving around again. Also, Red liked pissing off his dad, but that was neither here nor there. Anyway, long story short Mack was currently sort of sneaking out. Sort of.

Riding his motorcycle is probably one of the top ten worst ideas he’s ever had during his lifetime up to this point, but it wasn’t like he could just ask Spencer or his dad for a ride. So maybe he almost passes out three times while driving there. No one needs to know that.

He arrives at Ernie’s and is promptly shuffled back to the Original Five’s rooms. Red is the only one there. He’s looking pretty intently at something on a tablet screen, but he shuts it off and looks up when Mack comes in.

“Overdrive Red,” Original Red says with a small smile. “Glad to see that you’re in one piece.”

Mack smiles and shrugs a little. “More or less.” He sits down at the table opposite Red, more out of necessity than anything else. He sort of feels like he might pass out again.

“I called you down here to ask you a favor,” Red says. “While we’re not going to ask you or your team to fight until you’re all completely recovered, I would like to ask for your help with the fight against Thrax.”

“Of course, anything,” Mack replies.

Red hesitates, looking at his hands folded on the table. “Have you ever heard the name Sentinel Knight?”

Mack shrugs. “Maybe once. Why?”

“We think he’s been helping your team. And that he might be the answer to stopping Thrax,” Red explains.

Mack leans forward slightly, confused. “Well, if he’s helping my team, wouldn’t we know about him?”

“Indirectly helping,” Red corrects. “A weapon shows up, a vehicle, an unsigned note or email you can’t trace back. Things like that.”

Mack nods slowly. “Yeah, those things have happened a couple of times, I guess. I never really thought much about it.”

“Well, now I need you to think about it. We need to find him, quickly. He may be our only way to stop Thrax,” Red says with quiet urgency.

“Of course; we’ll help in any way that we can,” Mack assures.

Red smiles. “Thank you.”

“Anytime,” Mack says, standing. He shakes hands with Red and leaves.

Now all he has to do is not pass out on the drive home.

~~~

The sun went down long ago, but Kim still sits in the Command Center reviewing the files RJ sent to Trini over and over again.

Her phones lights up next to her, and she glances at it. It’s from Ernie. _Lock up, will you?_ She smiles. How he knows that she hadn’t slipped out the back earlier is a mystery to her. She turns back to the file she keeps lingering on. The Blue and Yellow seem fine to her, but the Red…

Zack cleared them all, stating that they all had adequate levels of training and fighting experience. Yet Trini had sent her the files, asking her to look them over.

Making a snap decision, she sends the Red’s file to Kat. _Look into it._

She closes the browser, turns the lights out, and makes her way upstairs.

She senses it before she sees it: a dark shape in the corner behind the pool table. Her heart speeds up, but she refuses to let her panic show. _They’re not supposed to come here_ , she thinks. Her hand drifts to her gun—

“Kim?”

She freezes before realizes that she knows that voice. She hits the lights in shock. “Andros?”

He winces in the brightness. “Oh, good, it really is you. That would have been awkward.”

“What are you doing here?” she hisses, then, realizing that it’s stupid to whisper, says in a normal tone. “You’re supposed to be undercover halfway across the state.”

He shrugs. “Yeah, well, we’re all supposed to be somewhere we’re not.” She recoils slightly like he’s hit her. “Sorry, that was mean,” he says, not really sounding like he means it. “Can we…go somewhere? That’s not here?” He glances up at the security camera in the corner significantly.

She waves off his concern. “Billy will clear them in the morning.”

He shakes his head. “I can’t risk it Kim.”

That gives her pause. “I’m expected to be at my apartment.”

It’s his turn to pause. “Have you heard from him recently?”

“Not about anything significant,” she replies. “Not about…”

“See if you can get him to Florida tomorrow. Alpha Six as well.”

Her eyebrows draw together in confusion. “Tomorrow? Well, Six won’t be able to come. We just activated them for the Thrax mission.”

Andros sighs in frustration, moving closer to her. “Fine, I’ll tell Six later, but see if the Phantom, at least, can get there tomorrow. Noon.”

“Andros, what’s this about?” she asks, exasperated. “Does your team even know you’re in town?”

“Kimberly,” he says urgently. He glances at the camera again. “I know who it is.”

She takes a step back abruptly, almost like he’s shoved her. Her voice vacates her for a few moments, leaving her struggling to respond. When she manages, it’s surprisingly level. “Noon. Florida. We’ll be there.”


	7. the legacies, the rich, and the cop

The door to his office swings open abruptly. He looks up, surprised, before realizing that he recognizes the girl standing there.

“Something I can help you with, Ashley?”

She leans in the doorway, crosses her arms, and raises an eyebrow. “And since when are we on a first name basis, Quantum Ranger?”

“Since when do you come into my office without knocking?” he counters.

“Since you fucked a Yellow and didn’t tell me immediately.”

He sighs, putting down the personnel file he was considering. “ _Astro Yellow_ , is there something I can help you with?”

She smirks, coming into his office and closing the door. “I’ve got an order from Original Yellow for you.”

It’s his turn to raise an eyebrow. “Why is Original Yellow sending me messages through her third in command?”

Ashley smiles sweetly. “Because no one else wants to talk to you.”

He looks back down at the file to keep from rolling his eyes. "Seriously, what do you need?"

"Alphabet Soup."

He hesitates. "What about them?"

"I want to know the intel you keep on them."

He glances at her. "I don't think I can do that."

"Yeah, you can. They came to us asking for help." She shrugs. "Yellow wants to see if they're being legit."

"Legit?" He looks up at her, incredulous. "Ashley--"

"Astro Yellow," she interrupts.

He gives no indication that he heard her. "What is this about?"

She swallows, hard. "Venjix."

"General Venjix is dead," he says automatically, studying her with almost-curiosity. "You should know that; your boyfriend led that mission. Well, sort of." He’s silent for a moment, considering his own words before coming to a conclusion. "Which is _actually_ why Yellow approached you to talk to me about this. Because you know how weird that mission was."

It’s her turn to be quiet. She takes a few steps forward until she's almost to the front of his desk. "He named himself," she says finally, shaking her head, her hair falling around her. "No one names themselves. We name them. That's how it works. That's how it's always worked."

He shakes his head. "That wasn’t the weirdest thing about the mission, and you know it."

She leans onto his desk. "Do you want me to list the weirdness for you? Will that make you help?” He doesn’t respond, and she sighs before continuing. “He claimed to work under the Machines but his goals were of the Alliance. He commanded an army full of thugs we'd never heard of. He went after an archaic vehicle that was ineffective and not an impressive target by any stretch. And he named himself. So, his name meant something. That vehicle meant something."

"And now he's dead; what's the point?" Eric asks flatly.

"The point? The point is that the name 'Venjix' has shown back up. He’s apparently hacked into Alphabet Soup." Eric stares at her, hard. "I need that intel," she finishes.

He sighs, flipping the file on his desk closed. “What do you want to know?”

She smiles, obviously thrilled at getting him to cooperate, before sitting in the chair in front of his desk and putting her head in her hands like an expectant child. “Start from the beginning, okay? Tell it like a story.”

This time he does roll his eyes. “Let me get the file Wes keeps.”

This confuses her. “Time Red keeps a file?”

He doesn’t answer her, already opening the door that leads to Wes’s office. Wes wasn’t there, no surprise, since it was time for the daily phone call he wasn’t supposed to make.

It only takes him a minute to locate the file and get back to his office chair. “Alphabet Soup,” he begins, flipping it open. “Officially, it’s an adoption agency run out of Corinth County at the edge of the city.”

“And unofficially?” Ashley asks, still grinning.

He flicks a glare in her direction. “Don’t interrupt. _Unofficially,_ they deal in human trafficking, child prostitution, and lots of kidnapping for various reasons. Not that we can prove any of that.” He turns a page in the file. “Over the years, they’ve sent us intel and asked us for favors. Apparently, they think since we’re criminals and they’re criminals, we should be best friends. The Original Five disagree. Until now, apparently.”

“We’re not becoming best friends with them,” Ashley protests.

“What did I say about interrupting?” he replies without looking up before continuing on. “A while back, Wes got a…case. I guess. Someone came in here saying their next door neighbors were gone. Not missing, gone. Two moms and a set of teenaged twins. The people who lived in their house now claimed that the previous owners had moved away. Wes believed them, because why wouldn’t he, until the person who came in to report them gone vanished too. Same deal. New homeowners claimed the person just moved away. That's when he started to casually dig. And realized the twins were adopted from Alphabet Soup. So the digging got less casual, and then he stumbled upon the fact that Alphabet Soup was paying the two moms under the table.”

“‘Stumbled upon?’” Ashley says, raising her eyebrows, clearly not caring about his interrupting rule.

“If you want me to admit that he called Trip and had him look into it, I’m not going to.” Ashley rolls her eyes. “Anyway, shortly after, the twins approached us in a grocery store.”

“What?” Ashley exclaims.

“Yeah, we were shocked, too,” he replies.

She shakes her head. “No, you go grocery shopping with Time Red?”

He stares at her for nearly a minute before saying, “We live together, Ash—”

She interrupts. “Yeah, I live with my teammates, too. But we only send Black grocery shopping.”

“Oh my God, do you not even call your own teammates by their names?”

Her eyes flash. “Just because Time Force didn’t give a fuck who knew who they were doesn’t mean that the rest of us don’t care. How _did_ that whole public identity thing work out for you, Quantum Ranger?”

He glares at her briefly before continuing. “So they approached us at the grocery store. Super weird, seemed way too excited to talk to us, kept…finishing each other’s sentences and stuff. Basically what they told us boiled down to ‘we’re fine; stop investigating Alphabet Soup,’ but with more enthusiasm. They claimed they were part of an experimental program for gifted children that Alphabet Soup runs, which explains why their moms were getting paid.”

“But you didn’t believe them,” Ashley says.

“Of course I didn’t,” he scoffs. “And I told them so. Which is when the girl handed me a piece of paper with a link on it. She told me that we could see what they were doing every day and see that they were fine.” He pauses, sighing deeply. “But, when she handed me the paper, I could see the inside of her wrist. She had a lightning bolt there.”

Ashley visibly reacts before lowering her voice and saying, “Holy shit, these kids are rangers?”

Eric nods grimly. “Yeah. I mean, they couldn’t have been more than sixteen? Seventeen? And they’ve been with Alphabet Soup for at least ten years, according to the website she gave me.”

Ashley shakes her head. “We don’t tat kids before they hit high school.”

“We do if they’re Legacies,” he points out. “Besides, it was just the lightning bolt; no team affinity. But, then again, I’ve never heard of Legacies that aren’t Samurai.”

“Turbo Blue is,” she points out mildly. “So, maybe their parents worked with Zordon like his did?”

He shrugs. “Maybe. Wes and I could never find out. Anyway, the website she gave me was a private blog. You can’t access it without the link. It’s titled ‘Gemma’s Awesome Diary,’ and it chronicles every day of these two’s lives for the past ten years, as written by the girl. She and Gem—that’s the boy—basically spend every day playing various games. We assumed most of them were video games because she would often reference an ‘explosion count’ for the day. The more explosions, the better the day, in her opinion. But then we… _stumbled_ _upon_ intel that Alphabet Soup often orders many of the materials one would need to make various bombs and other weapons. And then we came to the frankly horrifying conclusion that the twins are probably testing weapons.”

“So you think the diary is a lie?” Ashley asks.

“No, not at all. It’s completely genuine. Everything literally _is_ a game to them. They’re like…seven-year-olds deprived of social contact and handed explosives.”

“And they’re rangers, apparently,” Ashley adds. “God, this is a mess.”

“But I don’t see what any of it has to do with Venjix,” Eric says. “And I also don’t see what we can do about it since we can’t prove shit.”

She shrugs. “Neither do I, but Original Yellow still wants all this.” She gestures to the file as she stands up. He sighs and flips it closed before handing it to her. She flashes a smile. “Thanks, Quantum Ranger.”

“If you don’t start calling me Eric, I’m going to pitch a fit,” he says mildly. “Who fucked up your head so badly that you can’t even trust your own family?”

“You’re not my family,” she remarks.

“Like hell I’m not. We’re rangers. You agreed that we’re all family when you put those tats on,” he says, jerking his chin toward her wrist where a yellow box lies next to her lightning bolt, the tats that marks her as an Astro Ranger. She looks down at them, considering them for a long while

Finally, slowly, she says, “Thank you for the file.”

He smiles. “You’re very welcome, Ashley.” She turns toward the door, looking resigned. “Oh and by the way,” he says, stopping her. “I never fucked a Yellow. I would have told you if I had. Immediately.”

She smiles slightly. “I appreciate that, Eric." 

The door closes behind her.

~~~

Tori immediately claims Bridge for her task.

“Guys in uniform always scare off all the creepy squatters near the docks,” she insists.

“Like your charming personality won’t already do that,” Xander mutters. She elbows him in the gut.

Her theory is proven, though, when all the people in the immediate vicinity of the row of burned-out warehouses clear out at the sight of him.

All the abandoned warehouses in that district are slated to be torn down and rebuilt the following summer, but, honestly, Tori doubts it. Their city council isn’t exactly inspiring in its productivity.

“All right, what are we looking for?” Bridge asks as she approaches the second warehouse in the line.

“Well, this was the one that was supposedly Thrax’s base of command last time. So, uh, clues? Evidence? Whatever you cops look for at crime scenes,” she says with a shrug.

He clears his throat a little nervously as they enter. “We look and see if the scene is _safe_ first. And this place looks ready to cave in at any moment.”

She stops and turns toward him. “You get shot at literally every day, and you’re scared of a warehouse caving in on you.”

He stares at her blankly. “Yeah, aren't you?”

She shakes her head and turns back to look around the warehouse. “So, his stuff was over there…” She points in the direction of the left corner. “Pretty much all that’s left is his cot.”

“His cot?” Bridge repeats, his brow furrowing.

She shrugs. “Yeah, his cot. Had to sleep somewhere.” Bridge appears to have not heard her. He walks over to the corner, still looking confused. She follows a moment later. “Bridge, what are you looking at?” She asks, her voice echoing throughout the structure.

“A cot…” Bridge mutters to himself.

“Yeah, Bridge, a cot. Can we move past this?”

He shakes his head. “He wouldn’t sleep on a cot.”

She crosses her arms. “And you know this how?”

He turns to her suddenly. “How much money do you think Thrax has?”

The question surprises her, but she answers anyway. “Um…well his parents are rich enough to send him to private school so they’ve got to send cash his way…plus whatever else he’s been making with all the shit he’s been up to…so very, very rich?”

Bridge nods. “Exactly. Very, very rich. Syd would die before she slept on a cot.”

It’s Tori’s turn to stare blankly. “You’ve lost me.”

“Oh, yeah, uh, sorry. Syd’s my teammate and, like, the richest person I know. And once we all went up to a cabin for, like, team bonding or something, and she brought all this mattress padding and bedding. Z made fun of her, but she just said ‘I’d rather die than sleep on a cot.’ So, put yourself in Thrax’s rich boy shoes. You have to sleep on a cot. Wouldn’t you at least put some bedding and mattress padding on it?”

“What are you saying, Bridge?”

“I’m saying that I don’t think Thrax’s base of command was actually here. I think he wanted us to think it was here.”

Tori pauses to think about it. “Because there’s no burned up mattress padding.”

It’s Bridge’s turn to think. “Okay, that’s not all. He only used one corner. Why? This warehouse is huge, and he’s, like, all about huge from what Adam told us. Why not plaster the walls with his plans? Why burn down the warehouses that hid his secret hideout? Why not have an underground bunker or whatever? Rich people don’t do things halfway, Tori.”

She hesitates. “Adam said there was no ‘why’ with Thrax.”

Bridge makes a frustrated noise. “There’s always a ‘why.’ Even if it makes no sense to anyone but him there’s always a ‘why.’ I’m just saying that if I was Thrax, I wouldn’t burn down my hideout. I’d save it for a rainy day.”

Tori sighs. “Okay, say I believe you. That means he’s probably using his old base right now. So, where is it?”

“That part I don’t know. Somewhere big? Underground maybe? It’ll be much nicer than this, though,” he says, looking around.

“Big and underground,” she repeats before sighing again. “I think we should talk to Rita and Zedd.”

He looks surprised. “What? Why?”

She shrugs. “They know his behavior better than anyone. They might know places he would go.”

“But they’re not gonna tell those things to rangers,” Bridge points out.

“Yeah, of course they’re not gonna talk to a ranger. But a police officer…”

“Yeah, because they’re such upstanding citizens,” he scoffs.

She rolls her eyes. “You’re not thinking about this right. Listen, here’s what you’re going to do.”

~~~

Bridge takes a deep breath. His team never lets him to do interrogations by himself. Or witness questioning. Or really anything involving talking to people. Unless the people are kids. He’s good with kids.

He shakes his head to clear it, adjusting his bracelet one more time. It covers his tattoos perfectly, but he’s always nervous about it.

 _You’ll be fine_ , Tori’s voice says in his head again. He’s got to believe her.

A woman opens the door a few moments after he knocks. He smiles at her. “What do you want?” she asks, her voice as raspy as rumors suggest.

He holds up his badge. “I’m with the AGPD, ma’am, and I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions about your son?”

Her expression shifts slightly. “Which son?”

“Henry, ma’am.”

“Henry is away at boarding school.”

His brow furrows in confusion. “Well, that’s just the thing, ma’am. We got a positive ID off of some gas station footage, and when we called the school, they said he wasn’t there.”

“Who are you talking to?” a new, male voice calls from inside the house. Before she can answer, the man is there, opening the door farther. His expression is dark and foreboding and oh, this must be Lord Zedd. “A cop?”

“He’s just asking some questions about Henry,” Rita says softly.

“Well, he can mind his own—”

“He’s not in any trouble,” Bridge asserts quickly. “We just think that he may be a witness in some recent gang-related murders, but we can’t seem to find him.”

“He’s not here,” Zedd says, his expression still dark.

“In that case, we were wondering if you knew of any friends or other relatives that he might reach out to? Any places he might frequent?” Bridge fidgets nervously. Lord Zedd truly is terrifying.

“No,” Zedd says shortly. “Now if you’ll excuse us—”

“Sir,” Bridge interrupts again. “I really am sorry, but I have to insist that you give me something to work with. I’d hate to have to ask some of my friends in lower places to make you tell me.”

Bridge doesn’t really understand how it’s possible for Zedd’s face to get any darker, but it does. “Like your friends have any power over me,” Zedd growls.

“Darling,” Rita says softly before turning back to Bridge. “There’s a bar down the street from Angel Grove High that he liked to frequent. I don’t remember the name of it, unfortunately. Now if you’ll excuse us, we were in the middle of lunch.”

The door closes in his face.

~~~

“Hey, Kim, wait up a second.”

Kimberly stops and turns back to see Jason walking across Ernie’s toward her.

“Where’re you headed?” he asks as he stops in front of her.

She glances at the clock. “Lunch with a contact; why?”

“I just wanted to ask if you know anything new about the Sentinel Knight.”

It takes a lot of effort not to visibly react to that. She manages to shrug, nonchalant. “My girls haven’t told me anything since the last favor he pulled for Hartford.”

Jason looks disappointed, and she hates how guilty that makes her feel. “Ah, well, will you tell them to keep an eye out? I’ve got Overdrive looking, but they’re pretty down for the count right now.”

“You’ve got Overdrive looking?” she repeats. He nods. Her mind is spinning. “Did you send them back to their real jobs?”

“No, why would I do that?” he asks.

“Your theory has always been that he’s a regular guy, right?” Jason nods again. “If he’s a regular guy, regular people might know about him.” She shrugs. “Just a thought.”

He smiles. “That’s actually a pretty good idea.”

“Don’t sound too surprised about it.”

“I’m never surprised by you anymore,” he remarks. “Anyway, have fun at lunch or whatever. And do me a favor and call Kat. She’s been gone a while.”

Kimberly grins. “Are you worried about her?”

He raises an eyebrow. “Me? Get worried about my teammates? Never.”

She laughs. “I’ll call her tonight if it’ll make you feel better. Have dinner with me, and I’ll tell you about it.”

He rolls his eyes. “Deal.”

She leaves Ernie's, and the smile slides off her face. She shakes her head to clear it. Too many lies already today. And it's not even noon yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first section kicked my ass tbh. Why was that such a hard dynamic to nail. Why.


	8. throwing knives, florida, and the sword

Kira looks up from her tablet as Xander comes in.

“Well, you look decidedly not dead,” she comments. “How’d it go?”

He shakes his head. “It didn’t.”

“What?”

He shrugs. “I found the trackers in a parking lot. No trap. No Fearcats. Nothing exciting.”

“That’s crushingly disappointing,” she says. “Alpha and I are turning up pretty empty as well.”

“Well,” Tori begins. “That sounds like a pretty good excuse to take a break if I ever heard one.”

“Not so fast,” Alpha’s voice comes from across the room where they’ve been watching security footage. “I’ve got Miratrix trashing a ranger bar three streets over.”

They’re all instantly alert, Adam being the only one to actually move to look over Alpha’s shoulder at the footage. “Guess it’s time for us to suit up,” Adam mutters just loudly enough for them to all hear him.

Tori’s already moving toward the weapons’ room before his sentence even finishes, but Kira follows at a slower pace. She isn’t anxious to face Miratrix; the woman looks crafty.

She goes for the knives, easily finding the ones that slip into her usual hiding places. She puts several on a table near where Adam is selecting something. She compares the weights and lengths of the knives before slipping them into appropriate places on her person.

Adam watches her gear up, his own movement stilling. “What?” she asks, acutely uncomfortable.

“Nothing,” he says with a shrug. “Just…knives?”

She looks down at her gear with a frown then back to him. “Yeah. Throwing knives and a couple of daggers. Problem?”

He seems vaguely like he’s fighting a smile. “No problem at all.”

She eyes his own gear suspiciously. “An axe?”

“Yeah,” he says mimicking her earlier tone. “Problem?”

She rolls her eyes, and he grins at her before turning back to the other rangers. “Ready? Let’s ride.”

~~~

When Kim opens the door, the smell hits her first.

It’s Six’s cooking, no doubt about it. She doesn’t think she’ll forget that smell ever again. But Six is with Adam; Kim hadn’t even bothered to ask them if they could come.

Kim closes the door behind her, and the sign proclaiming “Welcome to Florida” bangs against it. Billy had bought it for them as a joke a couple weeks after Kim had forfeited being a ranger. Apparently he thought it was hilarious. Her cover story about moving to Florida had been the object of much hilarity to all the boys involved in this, leading them to christen the hellhole of an apartment "Florida" for eternity.

Now, she ducks her head into the kitchen and, lo and behold, sees Six humming while stirring something.

The words asking _Aren’t you supposed to be with Adam?_ are halfway formed when Andros’s words from the night before hit her.

_We’re all supposed to be somewhere we’re not._

So she doesn’t ask.

Instead, she calls out a greeting and asks what they’re cooking.

“Andros looks like he hasn’t eaten since the last time I saw him,” Alpha says as a way of answering. Which is fair, Kimberly thinks. Sometimes he forgets to eat when there’s not Zhane or DECA or Ashley or Karone or TJ or Cassie or Carlos or, hell, Justin to bother him about it.

So she thanks Six for their dedication to Andros not dying of something dumb as shit and goes into the dining room area.

Where she finds Andros pacing. Last time he paced these floors feels like forever ago.

_You’re just making us all more worried,_ Six had snapped. She’d never heard an Alpha snap before. She hasn’t heard one snap since.

This time, though… This time the pacing is more excited, more manic. 

“Sit down; you’ll wear through the floor,” she says, amused. His eyes jump to her like he’s just noticed her enter, but he obeys almost without thought. She jerks her head toward the bedroom. “Is he awake yet?”

Andros waves his hand vaguely. “You know him. Always has to be late. Part of his mysterious image or something.”

The door to the bathroom swings open, and then suddenly, there he is, jamming a grey shirt on over his head. “Shut up,” he tells Andros without heat as he sits at the head of the table.

They always sat in the same seats: Phantom at the head, Andros to his left, and Kim on the other end. Alpha always messes around in the kitchen, pretending not to listen. The whole situation always feels like the first time she had sat down at this table, a time when Andros hadn’t met his team and the ink on Kat’s wrist was still drying.

“So,” Phantom starts, leveling his gaze at Andros. “You finally found the new face of the Alliance.”

“Told you we’d do it eventually,” Andros says with a grin.

She notices how tired it is and voices her concern automatically. “When was the last time you slept well?”

He turns his eyes toward her. “You’ve known me long enough to know I never sleep well.”

“Oh, I hear you haven’t been getting much sleep lately,” Phantom jabs with the ghost of a grin on his face. “At least when you’re in Angel Grove.”

“Hey,” Kim protests. “It’s a little early in the evening to already be making jokes about Andros’s sex life.”

“If I had something to throw at you both, I would,” Andros comments mildly. A plate is put down in front of him, hard. He looks up, surprised, into Six’s disapproving face.

“Behave,” they say sternly before turning their gaze on the other two. “All of you.”

“Sorry Alpha,” Andros and Phantom intone automatically. Kim rolls her eyes.

“So my company intel was good?” she prompts, steering the conversation back on track as Six retreats to the kitchen.

Andros nods. “Yeah, it was definitely an Alliance front. Too many guys wandering around with Alliance tats for it to be coincidence.”

“So how’d you get the name of the leader?” Kim asks. “New guy has been too careful not to tell his lower downs who he is to slip up now.”

Andros shakes his head, looking a little proud of himself. “I didn’t get a name. I got a codename.”

Confusion evident in his voice, Phantom says, “But rangers assign codenames.”

Andros shakes his head again. “You’re never going to believe me. But at least three of the grunts heard two of the lieutenants talking, and they called the boss ‘Venjix.’”

Kim blinks. “You’re fucking with me. All that Serpentera bullshit is getting dragged up again? God, this shitstorm sucked hard enough the first time around.”

Andros shrugs. “I don’t know; I thought it was pretty fun.”

Kim snorts. “Maybe for the suicidal jerks involved, but not for the teammates who had to sit and worry for hours on end until you all decided to show back up and not be dead.”

Phantom pipes up, “Yeah, why didn’t you guys tell anyone? Didn’t Ashley change the locks when you got back?”

“Didn’t Cassie dump you?” Andros immediately shoots back.

“Can’t get dumped by someone you never dated.”

“Oh, bull—”

“Guns down, boys,” Kim orders. “Let’s concentrate on more important shit than your dick sizes like what we’re supposed to do now. We’ve done what Zordon ordered us to do. Twice. So what now?”

“Find him and kill him,” Phantom suggests easily.

“That didn’t go over that well last time,” Kim points out, and Andros winces.

“You got a better idea, Kim?” Phantom asks. It’s still strange, all this time later, to hear her name come out of his mouth.

She’d told him once, _It’s weird, calling you Phantom and you calling me Kim. Nobody calls me Kim except my teammates._

And he’d responded, _Well, what are we, if we’re not teammates?_

_If we were teammates, I’d call you by your name._

_Phantom is my name. It’s the only name I have left. It’s the only thing the Alliance hasn’t taken from me._

She had shoved him playfully and called him melodramatic. But maybe it was true. Maybe they all became their codenames at some point.

“We attack sideways,” Kim hears herself suggesting, breaking herself out of her musing. “Take down the things that give him power before we go for him.”

“That was Astronema’s plan,” Andros comments.

“Yeah, and it worked pretty damn well before you had to fuck it up by converting her,” Kim counters the argument he’s hinting at. Andros rolls his eyes at her, thankfully understanding that she’s mostly joking.

“So, go for fronts. Anything that makes money. Lower downs. Officers. That kind of thing,” Phantom says.

“Exactly,” Kim says.

“I have a list of new Alliance fronts that have been acquired under Venjix,” Andros offers. Kim holds out her hand expectantly. He sighs and pulls out his phone, taking a second to pull something up before handing it to her.

She scans through the list he’s taken a picture of. “Alphabet Soup, there’s a _shocker,_ The Lair: Bar and Club, Mercer…Industries?” She looks up from the list. “What the fuck? Mercer’s old news in the extreme way.”

Andros shrugs. “Don’t look at me.”

“Probably just one of his way lower downs doing a dumbass power play,” Phantom comments idly. “Point is, this list is where we’ve got to focus.”

“And we need to figure out Venjix’s hierarchy. Who his generals are and which ones we should go for. Who the generals trust and if we can turn any of them,” Kim lists.  
“There’s no way we can pull all this off on our own,” Andros points out.

“Oh look, the king of ‘I don’t need anyone to help me ever’ is actually admitting that teamwork is required for something,” Kim exclaims, fake-shocked.

“Shut up, and tell your girls to help us,” Andros says. “At least with the fronts, to start. They won’t think anything of taking down some shitholes, hopefully.”

“I’ll text a couple of them right now,” Kim says, pulling out her phone. “Though I should probably offer up Mercer to Kira. She’d probably take almost perverse pleasure in burning his warehouses down.”

There’s a silence for a few moments while Kim texts a couple of Pinks. She hits Kat’s name out of habit and remembers something.

“Jase asked me about the Sentinel Knight today,” she comments idly, shooting a look at Phantom. “Apparently, he’s having the Overdrive Rangers look for him.”

“Shit,” he mutters, rubbing his hand over his face wearily. “What did you tell him?”

“To send Overdrive back to their normal jobs to look. It’ll keep them off your ass for a while, but no promises on how long.”

Phantom groans. “You _know_ I can’t confront him—”

“Until we prove that he went for _The Sword_ , yeah, yeah,” Kim says with a dismissive wave of her hand.

“Why is Thrax such a pain in my ass?” the Phantom asks no one in particular.

“Because he has a crush on Adam,” Andros answers easily.

“But who _doesn’t_ have a crush on Adam?” Kim wonders.

“Shut up, Kim.”

~~~

 

There’s another bike parked next to hers with a blond girl leaning against it.

“Red’s no good,” the girl says with no preamble.

Kim barely pauses, approaching her bike at the same speed as before. “What are you doing here, Kat?”

“I needed to tell you in person. That file you sent me. The Red’s no good; trust me.”

Kim leans against her bike, unconsciously mirroring her Second before responding. “I do. I’ll tell Trini to find someone else.”

“Good. Oh, wait, I’ve got a file for Trini.” She twists around to her bike, digging around in her stuff before emerging with a manilla envelope. “There’s no digital record of this, so would you mind delivering it to her when you see her?”

Kim takes it, frowning. “What the hell kind of file doesn’t have a digital record?”

Kat grins unapologetically. “Top secret Alphabet Soup employment records that I definitely didn’t steal.”

“Alphabet Soup?” Kim asks neutrally, putting the file in her things. “What does she want with these?”

Kat shrugs. “I don’t ask questions; I just follow orders. She said something about wanting to check if there was a certain doctor or something.”

Kim nods slowly. “I’ll make sure she gets these.” She tucks the file into her own things and lifts her helmet to put it on.

Kat says, “Thanks,” before falling silent, studying Kim.

Kim sighs, putting her helmet down again. “Was there something else you needed?”

Kat shrugs again, perfectly nonchalant. “Nothing, nothing. Though, you should know, Tommy’s coming to see you.”

She groans. “God, what did I do this time?”

“Uh, send his girl on a mission without his expressed written consent?” Kat says as if this is the most obvious statement in the world.

“Oh right. Of course. How silly of me to think that Kira could make decisions by herself.” She shakes her head, predicting a headache coming on.

A wry smile twists Kat’s expression. “Yes. A truly tragic misunderstanding.”

“Will you come over?” Kim practically begs. “He’s always nicer when you’re there.”

She smiles softly and shakes her head. “Sorry, sweetheart. I’ve got places to be tonight.”

“Jason’s coming to dinner.”

Kat’s gaze sharpens slightly. “Why?”

“Because he’s worried about you. He’ll be less worried if you’re there.”

Kat softens again, her tone shifting back to playful immediately. “Oh, baby, you know I love eating dinner with you, but I really do have somewhere to be.”

“You got clients more important than me?” Kim teases back.

Kat’s gaze is fond even as her tone is reprimanding. “Nobody’s more important than you. But I’m not gonna ask why you’re at this apartment building. And you’re not gonna ask me to come eat with you again.”

Kim waves her off. “I know, I know. We’ve all got secrets to keep.”

“All right babe. Will you give Tommy this?” Kat hands her a folded up piece of paper.

“Yeah, yeah,” Kim says, taking it and tucking it into her jacket. “You two keep passing love notes between me, though, and I’m gonna start to get jealous.”

Kat tosses her hair. “Don’t be; you know you’re always my number one.”

“Of course I am.”

Kat grins and rolls her eyes before saying, “Ride fast; you gotta beat Tommy home.”

~~~

It’s Mack who finds it. Accidentally.

His normal, everyday job involves wandering around until he’s found something interesting and hovering near it until it becomes uninteresting.

Today it’s a closed bar.

Not unusual, given the time of day. Sunlight and alcohol, he’s found, are often not conducive together. No, what draws his eye isn’t the closed sign; it’s the lack of other adornments anywhere on the front of the bar save for a neon sign proclaiming its name.

“What are you doing here?” comes a voice from behind him. He whirls around, finding himself face to face with Zeo Ranger IV.

“I—I’m—” he stutters, forgetting, briefly, who he even is under Zeo Ranger IV’s stare.

“Adam, it’s his turf. He’s allowed to walk around it,” comes a softer voice just behind Zeo Ranger IV.

Mack now realizes that there are a bunch of other rangers standing behind Zeo Ranger IV. 

“Retro Rangers,” he blurts out before he can think about it. “You guys are our temporary replacements.”

One of the girls smiles softly at him. “That’d be us.”

He smiles at them all for a few more moments before realizing they’re sort of waiting on him to actually explain why he’s staring at the front of a bar in the middle of the day.

“Oh yeah, I’m just…” he trails off, gesturing to the store-front vaguely. He realizes none of them are connecting what he’s connecting so he tries elaborating. “This bar. It. There’s no…sticker. No affinity sticker even though it’s in the middle of ranger territory.”

Zeo Ranger IV is now frowning at the spot where an affinity sticker is usually posted.

“You’re right,” one of the other boys says, “There’s usually at least a sticker of neutrality there.”

Mack shrugs. “I mean it’s just unusual. And I was gonna call my yellow back here to check it out, since she knows how to pick locks, and I don’t...” He looks around at the Retro Rangers who are now all staring at the bar with interest. “I don’t want to keep you from something.”

“We were headed down the street to check out a disturbance, but this…this is interesting,” Zeo Ranger IV says, moving to rest his hand on the door. “Bridge, Tori: would you mind going and reminding Miratrix where she is?” The blond girl and one of the guys nod and start down the street. Zeo Ranger IV motions to the other girl. “Kira? Would you?”

A lock pick set is already dangling out of one of the girls’ hands, a smirk on her face. “With pleasure.”

She makes quick work of it, stepping back when she's done and offering the open door to Zeo Ranger IV. He enters, and they all follow suit a moment later. The door closes behind them, leaving the neon sign hanging above the actual bar as only point of illumination.

It reads _The Sword_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty sure the next chapter is the last one. Pretty sure. Not 100%. But pretty sure.


End file.
